1984 AUAA Championship

Regular Season

The 1983/84 Red Devils finished first in the consolidated AUAA standings, 4 points ahead of Moncton. This was a vast improvement from the previous two years where UNB had finished tied for 5th (3rd in the MacAdam) and 6th.

The Moncton Blue Eagles (Les Aigles Blues) were the 4 time AUAA Champions and two time CIAU Champions (a year removed) before the season started and were the odds on favorite to take the AUAA title again.

Acadia filed a protest against SMU, at the end of the season - but before the playoffs, on the use of an in-elligable player. The protest was upheald and SMU voluntarily forfeited all of all their wins.

UNB finished first overall with a new team record of 21-3-0, two wins and 4 points ahead of Moncton. The CIAU rankings still put Moncton ahead of UNB due to their higher goal scoring ability (158 goals to UNBs 118) and their experience.

Playoffs - What happened to SMU?

Only the top 4 teams would advance to the playoffs, which at the end of the season were UNB, Moncton, UPEI and SMU. Acadia filed a protest against SMU on the grounds that they had played the season with an in-eligible player (Wayne Fortune had played 11 games in the IHL for Saginaw Gears the previous season). The league upheald the protest and SMU voluntarily forfeited all of all their wins and finished in last place. This bumped Acadia from 5th to 4th and into the final playoff spot. The matchups would be UNB vs Acadia and Moncton vs UPEI.

First Round of Playoffs vs Acadia

The protest hearing held up the first game of the playoffs - UNB was to play SMU on Friday night, but instead meet Acadia on Saturday night. Acadia took the first game 5-4. The next two games came on the following weekend, Sunday/Monday. UNB won game two, on Sunday, 5-1 and followed that up with a convinicng 8-2 victory in game 3 to win the series 2-1.

This picture of UNB forward Mark Welton, by Bill Traer of The Brunswickan, is synonymous with 1984. It was the first time that the paper had put a full page picture of sports on the front page. The picture was taken the weekend UNB defeated Acadia at the AUC.The Brunswickan, Volume 118, Issue 19 - March 2nd, 1984

Second and Final Round of Playoffs vs Moncton - AUAA Championships

Moncton advanced to the finals, as expected, with two straight victories over UPEI. UNB would have home ice advantage in the AUAA finals which meant they would have the final two games in the AUC with the first game on the road. Game 1 was on a Thursday evening and UNB would win 4-3 and took e a 1-0 lead in the best of three.UNB Goalie Kevin Rochford stole the game from Moncton posting 48 saves against 51 shots. Game 2 and 3 was back in Fredericton on Saturday and Sunday (if necessary). UNB won game two 5-3 to take the series and title in front of a sold out AUC. UNB's last AUAA/MIAU title had been won 20 yeas and 1 week prior.

Despite being first in the league - the polls had Moncton ranked higher before the start of the series and many thought that Mocnton would advance to the CIAU Eastern Regional Finals versus the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. "I think a lot of people expected Moncton to win the series," said UNB Goalie, Kevin Rochford. Coach MacAdam added "We don't do anything fancy - we just kind of plod our way and work hard."

CIAU Eastern Regional Finals

The 1984 CIAU finals would include 4 teams; the host University of Quebec - Trois Riveriere Patriots (Les Patriotes), CWUAA representative - Alberta Golden Bears, QUAA Representavie - Concrodia Stingers and the Eastern Regionl Champion. The Eastern Regional Champion would be decided by a best of three series between the AUAA Champion (UNB) and Ontario Champion (UoT) at the AUAA Champion's home arena.

The U of T Varsity Blues (36-5-2) had been the CIAU #1 team all year and were the favorites going into the series. They had two first team all-stars and two second team all-stars. Fans were hoping that the polls were over rating UofT like they did Moncton and that the Ontario league was weaker then the AUAA.

Toronto was coached by Mike Keenan, who had coached the Rochester Americans to an AHL Calder Cup Championship the previous year.

UNB vs UoT - Game #1 (Saturday), 2-3 Loss

The Blues scored first at 17:19 in the first followed by Terry Balcom's tieing goal a minute later to end the frist peiod at 1-1. UNB took the lead at 9:38 of the second with the Blues tieing the game at 15:13 to end the second period at 2-2. The Blues took the lead at 17:22 and the eventual victory 2-3. The Blues outshot UNB 37-21.

UNB vs UoT - Game #2 (Sunday), 2-5 Loss

The Blues scored 4 unanswered goals in the first two periods before UNB's Ed Trail scored in the third. The Blues matched that goal before Steve Adams scored UNB's last goal to finish the game 2-5. The Blues outshot UNB again 38-21. "Toronto has no weakness. They are the top team I've played," commented Kevin Rochford. Coach MacAdam added "We're a strong team in our league...but Toronto definitely has more talent than any team in our conference."

Note - UNB was 0 for 17 on the powerplay over the two games.

CIAU Tournament - UQTR, Trois Rivieres - Quebec

The tournament was hosted by UQTR and would see the four teams pair off and play a best of 2 series - with the winner advancing to a one game final. If they tied their series a mini-match would be played to break the tie. Uof T would play UQTR and Concordia would meet Alberta.

UQTR was the last place team in the Quebec Conference and didn't put up much of a fight against the #1 team in the country - the Blues won both games 6-1 and 8-3. Concorida and Alberta tied both of their games 3-3 and 2-2. Concordia won the tie breaking match 2-0 to advance to the finals against Toronto.

U of T easily won the finals against Concordia who where tired from their overtime game the pervious night. The Blues won the game 9-1 and their 10th title.

Note
- UNB was definitatly the second best team in the country that year and the games played in Fredericton, in a practical sense, represent the finals. (Note: 20 years earlier UNB lost in the CIAU semi-finals to Alberta, which in a practical sense represented the finals then as well. Alberta went on to win the title easily over that year's Quebec entry to the same tune of 9-1.)
- UNB Head Coach Don MacAdam won the AUAA Coach of the Year award
- Tom Coolan was an Assistant Coach this year as well as in '82/'83

Material gathered from articles printed in the Daily Gleaner, The Brunswickan and the Montreal Gazette as well as UNB Athletics' Year-end Report